Conwy Mountain is beautiful now, it’s rocky cliffs and crags are coloured and softened with masses of pink/purple heather and the lower slopes are clothed with a mantle of ferny green bracken.

Heather softens the rocky limestone cliffs of the mountain

Heather is mixed with gorse which is just beginning to open its flowers

Bell Heather- Erica cinerea

Erica cinerea – Bell heather, is a species of heather that is native to western and central Europe. It is a low shrub growing to 15–60 centimetres (5.9–24 in) tall, with fine needle-like leaves 4–8 millimetres (0.16–0.31 in) long arranged in whorls of three.

The plant’s common name is taken from its pink/purple bell-shaped flowers that are 4–7 millimetres (0.16–0.28 in) long, and produced during mid to late summer.

This species occurs mainly on dry heaths where the soil is acidic or peaty; it tends not to be found in wetter places, where it is likely to be replaced by the similar-looking Cross-leaved Heath, Erica tetralix. Its growth is not as large or dense as that of common heather or ling.

PRACTICAL USES

Bell heather has been used extensively over centuries in a wide variety of ways, including use as bedding material for both livestock and people. Bundles of the dried stems have been used to make brooms and to thatch roofs; it has been burnt as fuel, wound into ropes and used to repair holes in tracks and roads.

TRADITIONAL MEDICINAL USES

Heather has a long history of use in traditional or folk medicine. In particular it is a good urinary antiseptic and diuretic, disinfecting the urinary tract and mildly increasing urine production.

Foxgloves that have flowered prolifically this year are still bearing flowers at the tips of their elongated stems.

Foxgloves open their flowers starting with those at the lower end of the stem, which continues to lengthen.

The heather-covered rocky slopes give way to bracken at their base. Grasses and other plants surround the pool creating a rich tapestry of lush vegetation

The large mountain pool is currently full to overflowing and the ground for some distance around it is soft and boggy, with large pools of surface water covering the walking tracks. On what would have been the edge of the pool a few weeks ago, I was excited to spot some spikes of Bog Asphodel. I wanted to get a photograph of them of course, but they were now surrounded by water and very boggy mud. I managed to get fairly close to them, but as there was no way I was going to kneel to put myself on a level with them, the resulting picture is not as clear as I would have liked, but you get the general impression.

Bog Asphodel –

Bog Asphodel – Narthecium ossifragum

A fascinating and unusual plant that grows in short wet grassland on acid soils, Bog Asphodel has bright yellow flowers with six narrow widely-spaced petals and six long stamens that are surrounded by yellow hairs, like a miniature bottle-brush, with a prominent orange anther on top.

There were just a few flowers to be found here, but in other places where the appropriate habitat occurs, during July and August carpets of the deep orange yellow flowers may be seen, to be replaced later in September by a carpet of orange and russet-brown as the flowers fruit.

Despite the plant’s English name, it is not particularly closely related to the true asphodels. The Latin name means “weak bone”, and refers to a traditional belief that eating the plant caused sheep to develop brittle bones.

In Northern climes it was once used a yellow hair dye and as a cheap substitute for saffron.

Bog Asphodel may be poisonous to both sheep and cattle, although not all stands of the plant are toxic, and the toxicity may be the side effect of the plant’s response to a fungal infection. However, affected plants , if ingested, cause serious kidney problems and a photosensitive disorder which is variously called ‘alveld’ (elf-fire), in Norway; ‘saut’ in Cumbria; and ‘plochteach’, ‘yellowses’ and ‘head greet’ in Scotland that are brought about by tri-saccaride saponins, ‘narcethin’ being the major one.

Waxcaps

A real surprise was to find this little collection of mushrooms, which I’m fairly sure from mushroom forages in Spain, are Chanterelle’s, but not sure enough to risk picking them!

We ave few opportunities for family outings these days as the ‘kids’ are grown up now and getting on with their lives in Bristol, London and up here in North Wales. As I think I have mentioned before, despite my best efforts throughout all their lives, still none of them get as excited as I do at the prospect of a wildlife spotting expedition, but at least all may be persuaded fairly easily to get out into the fresh air for a walk. During my recent birthday weekend clan gathering, they all agreed to indulge me in my strangeness and we headed for the nearest mountains before they could change their minds. The addition of a new Labrador puppy to my daughter’s family gave added incentive to the outing as this was to be her first venture into the countryside.

The actual Conwy Mountain – in Welsh Mynydd y Dref (“Mountain of the Town”) is the remains of an ancient volcano that erupted about 450 million years ago and lies within the foothills of the Carneddau range of Mountains; however, the whole of the hilly area to the west of the town of Conwy, is locally referred to as Conwy Mountain.

View from Conwy Mountain down to Conwy castle and estuary (click on photo for better view)

We drove from Conwy town along Sychnant Pass as far as the pull-in area near the Pensychnant Nature Resere were we parked and left the car to walk, or rather amble, stopping frequently to indulge the curiosity of the puppy. As always when walking with a group of people, and particularly in a popular walking spot, most birds make themselves scarce, although there were a few Stonechats about, a Kestrel quartered the mountain slope close to were we stood admiring the view, a pair of Raven flew overhead and a family of Buzzard circled in the thermals high above the valley beneath.

Freely grazing ponies are a frequent sight on the mountainside.

We walked around the lake towards the entrance to the nature reserve

The shallow water at the edge of the lake was full of crowds of large tadpoles

Vegetation in the lake is Water Horsetail – Equisetum fluviatile

The dry stone wall that bounds the nature reserve

A Rowan tree in full blossom

Bilberry – vaccinium myrtillus

My favourite discovery of the day was definitely this lovely little Wood Sorrel plant growing on a shady mossy bank at the side of the track through the nature reserve.

Wood-sorrel-oxalis-acetosella

The flowers are solitary, each having five narrow sepals; five broad white petals delicately veined with lilac; 10 stamens and five styles.

Wood Sorrel –Oxalis acetosella – A charming and delicate herb, from the genus Oxalis, that is common in most of Europe and parts of Asia. The binomial name is Oxalis acetosella, owing to its sour taste.

The leaves are fresh green, heart-shaped, folded down the middle and held in groups of three drooping down atop a slender reddish-brown stem.